Tuesday, September 1
Monday, April 27
Questionable Content: New comics every Monday through Friday
This is brilliant, I wonder how long Jeph can keep this up? When I go
home for lunch I'm subscribing to them all!!
home for lunch I'm subscribing to them all!!
http://www.questionablecontent.net/twitter.php
Tom Dineen
Sunday, April 5
To Wi-Fi or not to Wi-fi: Why the iPhone fails at Wireless networks
Ok, so my title ma be a bit over dramatic, but maybe it will be dramatic enough to entice a few reads off of the interwebs. If so, my hope would be that whether or not its something Apple could fix, maybe its a issue some clever developer might.
While I'm sure there are many other things that others have gripes about, something that piquese me is the process of turning on and off Wi-Fi on the iPhone handset. It isn't all that difficult, but it just does not seem Apple-rific to me. It is an extremely important item as it directly a effects the usability and battery life of the handheld that to it's owners is an extension of their own being. Again, a bit over dramatic, but if your out and about and realize your phone is dead (or well on it's way there) because for the past several hours it's been tirelessly burning away battery life searching for the nearest available network, then you too know exactly what I am talking about.
In other mobile devices, there is often a physical switch on the unit that solves just this issue. In one position the internal wireless hardware is powered and the unit is using that extra power when you want it, and when in the off position it is dutifully saving that juice for when you do.
I really respect the hardware design for the iPhone and it's simplified lack of external buttons and toggles (save the lock/power, silent/ringer, volume and "Home Screen"). While I do accept that there is no hardware switch to power the Wi-Fi hardware on or off, the need to dig into one screen to access another screen and then swipe to power on/off your Wi-Fi just dosen't seem right for a product from Apple.
Well I don't want to be just another ranter out there complaining about something then not presenting a solution or two. I think one answer would be to code the Wi-Fi/Edge/3G icon in the top left corner as a button to switch on/off the Wi-Fi transmitter. Or, more likely, a clever app developer could look through the SDK (current and 3.0) and see if there is a way to write an application that would work like a one touch AppleScript in OS Xwould; to toggle between an On/off state. Then the iPhone OS can do it's magic in the background to connect to a known network or prompt to join a new one.
What do you think? Am I being to finiky? Am I knit picking about a non-issue or is this a valid complaint about an otherwise superior device when it comes to user operability? Maybe there is an answer out there I just haven't seen yet? Please comment below to let me know.
While I'm sure there are many other things that others have gripes about, something that piquese me is the process of turning on and off Wi-Fi on the iPhone handset. It isn't all that difficult, but it just does not seem Apple-rific to me. It is an extremely important item as it directly a effects the usability and battery life of the handheld that to it's owners is an extension of their own being. Again, a bit over dramatic, but if your out and about and realize your phone is dead (or well on it's way there) because for the past several hours it's been tirelessly burning away battery life searching for the nearest available network, then you too know exactly what I am talking about.
In other mobile devices, there is often a physical switch on the unit that solves just this issue. In one position the internal wireless hardware is powered and the unit is using that extra power when you want it, and when in the off position it is dutifully saving that juice for when you do.
I really respect the hardware design for the iPhone and it's simplified lack of external buttons and toggles (save the lock/power, silent/ringer, volume and "Home Screen"). While I do accept that there is no hardware switch to power the Wi-Fi hardware on or off, the need to dig into one screen to access another screen and then swipe to power on/off your Wi-Fi just dosen't seem right for a product from Apple.
Well I don't want to be just another ranter out there complaining about something then not presenting a solution or two. I think one answer would be to code the Wi-Fi/Edge/3G icon in the top left corner as a button to switch on/off the Wi-Fi transmitter. Or, more likely, a clever app developer could look through the SDK (current and 3.0) and see if there is a way to write an application that would work like a one touch AppleScript in OS Xwould; to toggle between an On/off state. Then the iPhone OS can do it's magic in the background to connect to a known network or prompt to join a new one.
What do you think? Am I being to finiky? Am I knit picking about a non-issue or is this a valid complaint about an otherwise superior device when it comes to user operability? Maybe there is an answer out there I just haven't seen yet? Please comment below to let me know.
Wednesday, April 1
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